President-elect Donald Trump gave his latest nominee a less-than-enthusiastic launch in an announcement Friday.
Trump announced in a press release and post on his platform, Truth Social, that he had chosen Morgan Ortagus as his successor. Presidential Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. But Trump has made it clear that he’s not very excited about his choice.
““Morgan fought me for three years in the beginning, but I hope he learned his lesson,” Trump said. “These things usually don’t go well, but she has strong support from the Republican Party. I am not doing this for myself, I am doing this for them. Let’s see what happens.”
Trump added that he hoped Ortagus would become an asset to billionaire real estate executive Steve Wittkopf, whom Trump appointed as his special envoy to the Middle East.
Ortagus served as State Department spokesman under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during Trump’s first term as president. An active-duty U.S. Naval Reserve intelligence officer, she previously contributed to Fox News, commenting on national security issues.
Trump did not elaborate on what differences he had with Ortagus when he announced his nomination on Friday. But when he ran for president in 2016, Ortagus criticized Trump for his “isolationist” foreign policy views and said he found mocking disabled people “disgusting.”
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Ortagus is running for the 5th Congressional District in Tennessee in 2022 and received Trump’s support, but the Tennessee Republican Party got rid of her She was excluded from the primary ballot because she only recently moved to the state.
Despite Trump’s skepticism about his nominee, the president-elect hoped Ortagus would do well in the incoming administration.
“Good luck Morgan!” he said
